TROY. 



f;ege promifed little hopes uf fuccefs, the Greeks being un- 

 acquainted with any military engines fitted to make an im- 

 preffion on the Trojan walls. With fuch a numerous army, 

 they might have converted the fiege into a blockade ; but 

 fcarcity of fupplies compelled the greater part of them to 

 quit the camp. The refource of ravaging the adjacent 

 country foon exhaufted itfelf. Many betook themfelves to 

 cultivating the rich vales of the Cherfonefus, whofe induf- 

 trious inhabitants had recently been expelled, or deftroyed, 

 by the fierce incurfions of the barbarous Thracians. Others 

 had recourfe to piracy, fcoured the neighbounng feas, ra- 

 vaged the unprocefted coafts of the Helfefpont and ^gean, 

 and plundered or demoliflied fuch unfortified places as ac- 

 knowledged the dominion, or aflifted the arms of Troy. 

 Thefe ravages excited the rage of tlie Afiatics, and rendered 

 them more hearty in the caufe of their confederates. In 

 this manner nine fummers and winters elapfed, without 

 afibrding the nearer profpedl of a decifion to the conteft ; 

 but, in the tenth year of the war, llie feeming misfortunes 

 of the Greeks precipitated the downfall of the proud city of 

 Priam. A dreadful peflilence invaded the camp of the be- 

 fiegers, and long continued to rage with unabating fury. 

 This calamity was followed by the well-known quarrel be- 

 tween Agamemnon and Achilles, which deprived the Grecian 

 army of its principal ftrength and ornament. The Trojans 

 derived new fpirits from the misfortunes of their enemies ; 

 they ventured to abandon the protection of their v^alls, 

 boldly affailed the Grecian camp, and rifked feveral engage- 

 ments, in moft of which they were viftorious. In the laft 

 of thefe, the beloved friend of Achilles was flain by the arm 

 of Heftor, the braveft and moil generous of the Trojan race. 

 This event, which was infinitely more dreadful than death 

 to the atfeftionate ardour of the Grecian chief, ftifled his 

 hitherto inexorable refentment againft the proud tyranny of 

 Agamemnon. His return to the camp reftored the declin- 

 ing fortune of the Greeks ; and the indignant fury of his 

 rage was quenched in the detefted blood of HefEor, whofe 

 patriotic valour had long been the firmed bulwark of his 

 father's kingdom. The dellruftion of Troy foon followed 

 the death of her darling hero. The city, whether taken 

 by ftorm or by furprife, was fet on fire in the night ; mod 

 of the citizens perilhed by the fword, or were dragged into 

 captivity ; and only a miferable remnant efcaped through 

 the confufed horror of raging flames and expiring kinfmen. 

 The burning of Troy happened eleven hundred and 

 eighty-four years before the Chriftian era. Neither the city 

 nor territory ever aflumed, in any fucceeding age, the dig- 

 nity of independent government. The fea-coaft was planted, 

 eighty years after the Trojan war, by new colonies from 

 Greece ; and the inland parts fubmitted to the growing 

 power of the Lydians, whofe arms overfpread and conquered 

 all the fineft provinces of LefTer Afia. 



The Greeks had recovered poffefiion of the admired 

 beauty of Helen ; they had taken complete vengeance on 

 the family and nation of her unhappy feducer ; but the mif- 

 fortunes which were the natural confequence of the Trojan 

 expedition, left them little rcafon to boaft of their viftory. 

 Of five Boeotian commanders, only one remained, and the 

 fiege had been proportioaably fatal to the leaders of other 

 tribes, as well as to their warlike followers. Thofe who 

 lived to divide the rich fpoils of Troy, were impatient to fet 

 fail with their newly-acquired treafure, notwithftanding the 

 threatening appearance of the (Ivies. Many of them periflied 

 by fhipwreck ; the reft were long tufled on unknown feas ; 

 and when they expected to find in their native country the 

 end of their calamities, they were expofed to fuffer greater 

 calamities there, than any which they had yet endured. The 



thrones of feveral of the abfent princes had been ufurped 

 by violence and ambition ; the lands of various communilies 

 had been occupied by the invafion of hoftile tribes ; even 

 the leaft unfortunate of thofe adventurers found their do- 

 mains uncultivated, or their territories laid wafte ; their 

 families torn by difcord, or their cities (haken by fedition. 

 And thus the moft celebrated euterprife of combined Greece 

 tended to plunge that delightful and once happy country 

 into barbarifm and mifery. Gillies's Hift. of Anc. Greece, 

 vol. i. 



All the Roman writers alTure us that ^neas fettled iu 

 Italy, and there founded the kingdom of Alba. From him 

 the Caefars affefted to derive their pedigree. Livy alone 

 fecms to betray fome fort of doubt as to this particular, in- 

 hnuating, with a great deal of referve, that he has not fuffi- 

 cient grounds either to admit or rejeft the common opinion. 

 But, notwithftanding the unanimous confent of the Latins, 

 there are not wanting arguments of great weight, which the 

 learned Bochart has carefully colledled, to prove the arrival 

 of iEneas in Italy to be a mere fable. 



Dr. Gillies having carefully examined the evidence given 

 by Bochart (Epift. num jEneas unquam fuit in Italia), and 

 by Mr. Wood ( EfTay on the original Genius of Homer), to 

 prove that the defcendants of jEneas reigned in Troy, ob- 

 ferves, that notwithftanding the learned ingenuity of a pro- 

 found, and the plaufible criticifm of an elegant fcholar, 

 the matter feems ftill too doubtful to warrant contradidling 

 the popular opinion. Some few writers, both ancient and 

 modern, have regarded Homer's account of the fiege of Troy 

 as a mere fiftion, or the refult of a poetical imagination. 

 Thus Dion Chryfoftom (Orat. xi. ) attempts to prove that 

 the fiege and deftruftion of Troy by the Greeks is alto- 

 gether fabulous, and deftitute of any foundation in truth. 

 But his performance has been generally regarded as a mere 

 jm tTefprit, fince the author el fewhere (:7£fi aczHwii.):-, p. 225. ) 

 difproves what he endeavours to eftablifti in the place before 

 cited. Indeed the fiege and capture of Troy are tranfaftions 

 fo well attefted, and form fo remarkable an epocha in hif- 

 tory, that they cannot be juilly queftioned. Neverthelefs 

 the learned Bryant, not long ago, publiflied two pamphlets 

 with a view of refuting the generally received opinions re- 

 fpefting the exiftence of Afiatic Troy, and the authenticity 

 of the leading fads in the hiftory of the Trojan war : but 

 his arguments and conclufions have been examined, and, in 

 our opmion, fatisfaftorily refuted, by Mr. G. Wakefield, in 

 his " Letters to Jacob Bryant, Efq. concerning his Diflcrta- 

 tion on the War of Troy," and J. B. S. Morritt,cfq. in his 

 " Vindication of Homer, and of the ancient Poets and Hii- 

 torians, who have recorded the Siege and Fall of Troy ;" as 

 well as the teftimony of Le Chevalier, and other moder.n 

 travellers. See Ohvier's Travels in the Ottoman Empire, &c. 



Troy, Epocha of the DcfiruHion of. See Epocha. 



Troy, Francis de, in Biography, was born at Touloufe 

 in 1 645. He was the fon of Nicholas de Troy, a painter of 

 little celebrity, from whom he received the firft rudiments of 

 defign ; but he was fent to Paris when young, where he ftu- 

 died luftorical painting under Nicholas Loir, and became a 

 m.ember of the Academy in 1674. He afterwards attached 

 himfelf to the more lucrative profeffion of portrait paint- 

 ino-, and became celebrated in that line. He was fent by 

 Louis XIV. to the court of Municii, to paint the portrait of 

 Maria-Chriftiana of Bavaria, afterwards dauphinefs of France. 

 His own portrait is placed in th.' gallery of Florence. 

 Among the hiftorical piftures which lie produced, one of 

 the moft renowned was painted for the church of St. Gene- 

 vieve, in which the magiftrates of Paris were reprefcnted in- 

 voking that faint. He died at Paris in 1 730. 



^ y Tkoy, 



